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Tough decisions mean basketball is thriving in Greater Savannah

How do you determine the difference between 16.4 points a game and 13 rebounds a game? Do 6.5 assists a game mean more than 15 points a game? Is a basketball player who missed a game his or her team ended up losing more valuable than a player who led his or her team to a state title game?

These questions are not easily answered, but a few of us have been pouring over queries just like those for the past few weeks.

Over the next two days, the Savannah Morning News Greater Savannah boys' and girls' teams will run, and it has been tough figuring out the differences between first team, second team and honorable mention.

In some areas of the state, these types of teams are clear-cut. There is always an elite group of first-teamers, a deserving handful of second-teamers and plenty of honorable mentions who just barely missed the cut.

In Greater Savannah, these decisions don't just work themselves out. Simply put, there is just way too much talent, and that's a good thing. It's always great to be in a situation where there are too many deserving players than not enough.

With that being the case, it tends to open up things a bit more to debate. Our views might be different than those of fans or coaches. What constitutes a first-teamer to us may be different for others picking an all-area team.

In these situations, you have to immerse yourself in stats and game stories and overanalyze the things you saw throughout the year. These decisions tend to come down to questions that may or may not have an answer.

Really, how do you determine the difference between 16.4 points a game for one player and 13 rebounds a game for another? Which is tougher to achieve? How would the two players stack up against each other in a game of one-on-one?

At times, it seemed like it might have been easier just deciding it by a one-on-one pickup game tournament. The top-six finishers end up being first-team selections. End of story. It certainly would have made things much more interesting, but obviously that's not what we did to determine the teams. We settled things with good, old fashioned debate. We even had to defer some decisions to coaches, but we're happy with the teams that materialized from all those discussions.

The bottom line is Savannah has a rich basketball tradition and history. The fact that the decisions between first team, second team and honorable mention were so difficult in some cases back up the idea that the tradition is still thriving. The fact that so many players from Greater Savannah were selected for all-state honors shows that this area can compete on the state level. And these are all things Greater Savannah should be proud of.

Sometimes, the more difficult something is the better it turns out in the end. That was definitely true in this case, and it will only get better, and tougher, in the future.

Morning News High school sports reporter Jay Adams can be reached at 912-652-0329 or jason.adams@savannahnow.com